Tuesday, December 1, 2015

A news program
earlier this morning reported that the average American family spends
$800 per person at Christmas. Did I hear that correctly? I must have
because I heard my husband's voice from the other room scoffing, "Not
in THIS house". We have never been big spenders at Christmas or
otherwise. This report reminded me of Christmases past......

My husband and I are both children of farmers and come from large families. It was also a time when relatives all lived nearby. My childhood Christmas would begin with
falling asleep at Midnight Mass and awakening to a stocking filled
with goodies laid across the foot of the bed. Instead of the
traditional red and white Christmas stockings, my mother used her
support hose. I know that sounds odd, but they stretched and were
filled with goodies! There was always an apple or orange in the toe
and a Roman Candle sticking out of the top. In between were little
games, assorted nuts and all kinds of little things. After we went through the stockings, it was straight to the Christmas
tree. Every year mother would build a Christmas village, which was
set atop a mountain made of brown paper sprayed with snow. The
village was hardly visible on Christmas morning. We
were a big family and she liked to do it up with gifts. It's also
possible that I couldn't see the village because I was a little kid,
however it seemed the tree was surrounded by mountains of gifts.
Before long, there was torn gift wrapping all over the place and we
were ready to go to Grandma's. After all, there would be more
presents there!

After visiting and having our fill of special
holiday food, it was the kid's favorite time of the
evening-PRESENTS! Now both grandmothers also had big families so
there were plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins and the cousins
increased yearly. My maternal grandmother always gave us a book of
Lifesaver candies. I could go for that. After all, it was candy! My
paternal grandmother, without fail, gave us underwear or socks. What
kind of Christmas gift was THAT? She never commented that she wished
she could have given more. We were just handed the undies, all
wrapped up like a real gift.

And that brings me
to what inspired this post. As I reflect back, those gift of socks or
undies were gifts spun into gold. They weren't gifts that were to be
played with and tossed aside as most gifts were. They were gifts
given with love, intended to be used daily and helped keep us clean
and warm. They were practical gifts bought with hard earned money.
They were gifts that turned into life lessons. I wonder if she ever
considered they would be more appreciated 50+ years after they were
given and many years after she would be gone.

We now have three daughters and five grandchildren of our own and while our gifts may
not be socks or underwear, they are simple and practical. And we are
content to think that maybe 50 years from now, they will realize that
a true gift was given.